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The depiction of Mosasaurus with a boxy head, side-positioned nose, and flippers contradicted the studies of Goldfuss (1845), whose examinations of the vertebrae and skull of M. missouriensis instead called for a narrower skull, nostrils at the top of the skull, and amphibious terrestrial limbs (the latter of which is incorrect in modern ...
Mosasaurus fossils have been found in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Western Asia, and Antarctica. This distribution encompassed a wide range of oceanic climates including tropical, subtropical, temperate, and subpolar. Mosasaurus was a common large predator in these oceans and was positioned at the top of the food chain.
The Mosasaurus hoffmannii skull found in Maastricht between 1770 and 1774. The first publicized discovery of a partial fossil mosasaur skull in 1764 by quarry workers in a subterranean gallery of a limestone quarry in Mount Saint Peter, near the Dutch city of Maastricht, preceded any major dinosaur fossil discoveries, but remained little known.
A mix of features in the bones of its skull made it unexpectedly challenging for the scientists to classify the newcomer and hinted that the mosasaur group includes more diverse forms than ...
Patrick Antuzzi discovered a mosasaur skull in the Chico Formation of California. The specimen is now catalogued as SC-VR59 and may have belonged to a species of Clidastes resembling members of this genus previously from New Zealand. [108] 1995. Theagarten Lingham-Soliar published the first truly thorough description of Mosasaurus hoffmani. [4]
Instead, they primarily relied on stratigraphic associations and Cuvier's 1808 research on the holotype skull. Thus, in-depth research on the placement of Mosasaurus was not undertaken until the discovery of more complete mosasaur fossils during the late 19th century, which reignited research on the placement of mosasaurs among squamates. [8]
The first skull, found in 1764, purchased in 1784 by Camper's pupil Martin van Marum for the Teylers Museum, where it remains today. The second skull, M. hoffmannii holotype jaw fragments, known as the "great animal", it was taken as war booty to Paris, where it remains today in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The first skull, engraving from the 1799 book by Barthélemy Faujas de ...
Annotated schematic of a mosasaur skull. Like all prognathodontines, the skull of Thalassotitan is blunt and robust. The premaxilla, the bone bearing the tip of the skull, is very short in a lateral view but broad and convex when viewed dorsally.